Earthbound
by kimmyAllen
Summary: Fate is unavoidable and life is harsh... All he wanted to do was swim, be free. When a car accident leaves Haruka tied　to a wheelchair, how will everyone react? I m not so good with summaries, so I ll just leave this as is. Characters: Haruka, Makoto, Rin, Rei, Nagisa, Gou, Sousuke, Ama-chan (teacher), etc. No pairings.
1. Chapter 1

_Introduction_

_._

_¨Water is alive, you have to accept that fact and embrace it, once you submerge into its depths, you coexist.¨_

.

Haruka´s mind had wandered off again as he laid inside his bathtub, the warm water that filled it surrounding him and helping him forget the world outside.

Of course, that couldn´t last forever, and soon his lungs forced him to resurface and get some air.

He sank back in right after that, but then the door to his bathroom opened and Makoto´s face peeked in before he walked inside. His voice sounded muffled under the water, but it was unmistakeable and, so, Haru was once again forced to surface.

.

¨We´ll be late for school, Haru¨ said Makoto, offering his hand to his wet friend to help him get out of the tub.

¨Then you should be off¨ Haruka replied, accepting the help. He took a towel and threw it over his head as he walked to the kitchen to make himself lunch, with his large friend tailing after him like a baby duck.

Makoto didn´t reply to that, but he waited until his friend was done eating, dragging him to school afterwards.

As they walked, Nagisa and Rei had catched up with the, having changed their usual route for some reason. Makoto´s greeting to them was all Haruka could remember, at least before everything turned black.

.

_Chapter 1_

_._

Beeping sounds could be heard and a strong smell of disinfectant lingered to each breath Haruka took. It wasn´t completely unpleasant, it reminded him of chlorine.

There was also the sound of someone´s breath right next to him, and he knew it so well he didn´t even have to open his eyes to know it was Makoto. Still, as time passed and the beeping sound continued, he realized it wasn´t a product of his imagination and felt the need to actually look where he was, so his bright blue eyes opened to see the dazzling lights of an unidentified place; he had to blink several times to be able to recognize it. A hospital room.

He looked to his right, noticing the heart monitor machine that was making those beeping noises. It was accompanied by some other devices whose names or functions he didn´t know.

Then he looked to his left and saw his friend there, sitting in a chair way too small for him and sleeping with his upper body resting over the bed, his arms acting as a pillow.

.

Aside from them, there was no one else in the room, and so he had to shake Makoto´s shoulder so he would wake up and explain what they were doing there.

¨Makoto… Oi, Makoto¨ he spoke calmly, as if to not startle the other so much.

¨Hm? Haru? OH! YOU WOKE!¨ Makoto´s voice sounded sleepy and as gentle as always in the beginning, but it soon reached an annoying volume. Thankfully, the boy was quite skilled at reading Haru and he spoke normally again after that. ¨Oh, thank God… thank God you woke up… how are you feeling, Haru? Does anything hurt?¨ he asked, and only then did the blue-eyed teenager begin to understand.

¨What happened to me, Makoto?¨ he asked, looking at his body as if evaluating it. There was a big bruise on his right arm and the right side of his thorax hurt so much it was obvious he´d broken some ribs. Then his legs… they were fine, they didn´t hurt… or rather, he couldn´t feel them.

As soon as he realized that, he tried moving them, panicking as he realised he couldn´t.

¨Ma… Makoto, I can´t move!¨ he said, raising his voice like he rarely did. He kept his eyes glued to his unresponsive legs, but he still noticed Makoto´s pained expression.

¨Haru, you had an accident the other day, on the way to school. A drunk driver went over the sidewalk and you… you pushed Nagisa out of the way.¨ he said, his voice shaking just as much as his shoulders. He was crying, and Haruka could only look at him with blank eyes.

¨The car almost broke you in half. It hit you from the right but it kept going until you were pinned between it and the wall. Haru I thought I though…¨ Makoto couldn´t talk after that. All he did was shake while he cried, looking at the bed and never, not even once, directing a glance at Haruka.

.

He couldn´t remember, how could he not remember? Still, he was intelligent enough to figure out the rest. If the accident had been so bad and he couldn´t feel his legs, then perhaps something that shouldn´t ever break had broken, and now he wouldn´t be able to move again. He looked back down at his legs and placed his hands over his thighs. He could feel something… or perhaps he just wished he did so much that his mind was playing tricks at him.

.

¨Is Nagisa alright?¨ Haru asked after long minutes of silence. There was really nothing else they could talk about, and he kind of wished Makoto would stop crying.

¨Eh? Oh yes. He was here earlier today, along with everyone else. They came yesterday and the day before that too, but they had to leave for school. I bet they´ll come back after classes are over.¨ the green-eyed boy answered, wiping his tears while he did.

Yesterday and the day before that, Makoto said… how many days had been since the accident?

¨Why aren´t you in school?¨ Silly question. He knew the answer even before the other spoke it.

¨I wouldn´t leave while you were asleep, Haru.¨ Of course, of course.

¨I´m not sleeping anymore now.¨ Was he asking Makoto to leave? Did he really want to be alone with those annoying beeping sounds? His face must have been easy to read, or maybe Makoto was just really skilled at doing so, as he replied exactly what Haru needed.

¨Classes are almost over now anyway.¨

Haruka didn´t reply, Makoto didn´t move, they didn´t say or do much after that.

.

_-A few hours later-_

.

Makoto was walking back and forth right outside Haruka´s hospital room. A nurse had come to change the bandages and the sheets and the boy had been kicked out of the room for the time being. After that, two other nurses had walked into the room with hurried pace, making him even more worried.

Also, he could hear noise from inside and it was making him quite uneasy. Haru was hurt, should they really be moving him around like that?

Of course, he´d been asleep for three days and the cleaning was kind of needed at that point, but now that he was conscious and perfectly able to feel each and all of his wounds… Makoto could do nothing but wince each time he heard the muffled sound of Haruka´s voice as he couldn´t hold back a cry of pain.

.

All he could do was walk, but as he made round number thirty something, he saw Gou running to where he was, followed by Rei, Nagisa and, at the very back, Rin. All of them had worried expressions on their faces, and so Makoto smiled to them to reassure them a little.

¨He woke up around noon, the nurse kicked me out in order to change his bandages, but I think they´re taking the change to do some other things to¨ he explained, scratching the back of his neck and still showing his little reassuring smile, which didn´t seem too reassuring, as he was quite edgy himself.

Still, all the kids released a sigh and cheered up a little. The news of Haru waking up were great. They all felt lighter as that worry was lifted off their shoulders. It had been the same for Makoto, earlier. He´d been so happy he felt like he could just fly.

As they stood there, the door finally opened and the three nurses came out.

¨Only two at a time! He´s tired¨ said one of the nurses as she made her way out.

¨Oh don´t mind her, I bet he´ll be happy to see you, just keep your voices down and come out if you see he´s sleepy¨ another nurse said, winking her eye at them and smiling warmly.

The kids smiled back at her and Makoto was the first one to walk into the room, quickly followed by everyone else.

.

Haruka was back at the bed, which was now on a complete different angle, this time facing towards the window and allowing him to see the sea through it. He was lost in the scenery and didn´t took his eyes off it even when the others walked in.

¨Ha…Haruka-senpai, how are you feeling?¨ Gou asked, walking towards the bed and stopping a few steps from it.

¨I´m fine. They said I could be going home tomorrow.¨ he answered, looking over at the corner of the room, where a black and blue wheel-chair sat.

The other´s hadn´t noticed it before, and as soon as they did their eyes rushed back to Makoto, asking in silence what that meant.

Haruka noticed their reaction but, as he always did, he left Makoto speak for him. How much did his friend know of his condition? He´d said he had stayed at the hospital for the past three days, so maybe he´d been informed of everything, too.

¨During the accident, Haru was really hurt¨ he said, looking at his best friend for a second, before redirecting his gaze to the floor. That was all he said.

¨Apparently I´ll need that to move for now¨ added Haru, choosing to say it as if it were something temporary for the sake of the others. ¨So, Makoto, could you pick me up in the morning?¨ he took his eyes from the window and met his friend´s ones. ¨I will need that you make me mackerel, since I can´t reach the stove¨ he added, trying in his own way to be humorous.

¨Of course—¨ he began to say, but was quickly interrupted by Nagisa.

¨I´ll go too, Haru-chan! I´ll make food for you every morning, so please, give it your best!¨ he said, bowing really low and squeezing his eyes to try and keep his tears in. It was his fault, it was all his fault or so he thought. If he hadn´t been playing around, maybe Haru wouldn´t have had to push him out of the way, and then maybe he wouldn´t be in that bed, talking about using a wheel-chair…

That made it for most of them. Both Rei and Gou began crying silently, which caused Nagisa to let go and go into full cry mode. Only Makoto and Rin managed to hold back, the first one trying to calm the crying kids while the second one could do nothing but stare at Haru´s blank face.

It annoyed him that, even in that situation, Haru still remained calm. It was unnatural, it had to be just a mask, a façade.

Not feeling up for watching Rin glare any longer, Haruka turned his face back to the window.

**Hello!**

**Thanks for reading, if you liked it please leave a review, those things keep me motivated and wanting to keep going.**

**So, this little story will be as close to canon as possible. By that, I mean that there won´t be any pairings, but there WILL be scenes that sugest something´s goining on, just like in the anime! **

**Ok, I need to go now, you please go and review the chapter, if you have any questions and/ or sugestions you can share them there and I´ll try to answer them in the next chapter´s note.**

**さようなら！**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

.

Even though Haru had said he would leave the hospital soon, it took about a week for the doctors to actually allow him to go home, since there were many tests and procedures to do before releasing him.

It had been quite a boring time for him. Most of the time he was in pain, either because the doctors made him move to check him up or because the nurses wanted to change his bandages or bathe him. For that reason, he´d forced Makoto to leave his side. Haruka hated to see the worried face to other made whenever he winced in pain, but what he hated even more was how much Makoto seemed to want to help. It wasn´t bad, really, but having him hover around annoyed him in a way, it made him feel useless.

Besides, Makoto needed to go to school; he´d been skipping for the past days, even without the school´s consent. So, Haruka kicked him out, though he couldn´t do nothing to prevent his friend from going back to the hospital immediately after classes.

It wasn´t that he disliked Makoto´s presence, but most of the time he didn´t feel up to being with someone. It was hard to keep a bright face, it had always been hard for him to do such a thing, but now he felt like he had to, for the sake of the others.

He was especially careful around Nagisa. It hadn´t taken much for everyone to realize the boy was blaming himself for what had happened to Haru, it was so visible in the way he behaved, it was as if he were trying to compensate Haruka. It was really tiresome for him to keep looking as if nothing happened.

A bubbly Haru was still an unseen thing, though, but he at least tried to look not-so-miserable.

It didn´t help that the personal at the hospital began to shrunken his dosage of analgesic in order to prepare him to go home. It also didn´t help that, each time he tried to lie and make everyone think he was alright, Rin got mad and started glaring at him. Neither him nor Makoto were tricked.

.

¨Just when the hell will you admit you´re not fine?!¨ yelled Rin one day, finally exploding after the blue-eyed teen said he was alright for the tenth time that afternoon.

It wasn´t really Haru´s fault that Nagisa´d been pestering around him, questioning him every ten minutes or so.

¨So what if I don´t want to admit it? What does it have to do with you, anyway?!¨ He replied, losing his patience fast and yelling back at Rin.

The nurse had rushed to the room as she heard the yells and she made everyone go, leaving her patient to rest; or to immerse himself in his own thoughts, as he´d been doing for a while.

.

_-The next day-_

.

The morning of the accident had been a Monday, and it was now Saturday. It seemed like a lot of time had passed, though it had only been a week.

.

Haru was half-sleeping when the door to his room opened. As he thought it had to be Makoto, he pretended to stay asleep, hoping the other would just walk out again. Still, the person who´d came in didn´t leave. Steps announced that he or she was approaching the bed, and only when the person´s hand touched his head did Haru recognised her.

His eyes opened and he turned, finding his mother standing before him, a tiny sad smile on her face.

Her eyes were tearing up a bit as she looked at her bruised son. She, too, blamed herself a little, for leaving her only son all alone. Maybe if she had been there to take care of him that wouldn´t have happened… or if it had, she would at least have been able to be near him since the beginning, and not five days later.

.

Haru saw all that in her eyes and his own filled with tears. It was so out of character for him to cry, but still he did. His mother cradled him to her chest and he let himself go, allowed the tears he´d been keeping down to flow.

He´d been lying to everyone for all those days, he´d been lying so much he had believed in his lies himself, and it was only in the presence of his mother that the truth hit him with it´s full force. Haru could do nothing but cry for a while, cry out of pain, out of fear and out of desperation.

.

That was how Makoto found him when he came by. He´d just opened the door when the sound reached his ears and his eyes met the heart-breaking scene.

He quickly closed the door again, walking away from it as he felt his own tears flow down his cheeks. He felt so bad for Haru, and then he felt bad for feeling bad. It was all a wreck, deep inside him.

.

That night, Haru slept with his hand wrapped around his mother´s, like a little, frightened child.

.

_-The next day-_

_._

¨Time to wake up, darling. Breakfast is here¨ a soft voice said, as an even softer hand caressed his hair. His eyes opened to find his mother in the room, smiling at him and holding a spoon in her free hand.  
¨Come on, I´ll feed this to you.¨ she added as she went to grab the plate of food the nurse had brought earlier.

¨I can feed myself¨ he replied, directing his gaze over to the window. He felt a little embarrassed of having cried so much the day before.  
¨Oh, come on! Let a mother pamper her child from time to time¨ she said, taking a spoonful of the food before moving it towards Haru´s mouth. ¨Open, come on come on, open before it spills¨ she said, leaving him no option but to actually do as she told.

.

After he was done eating, Haru went back to look at the sea as his mom put the plate and spoon away.

¨Haruka, I want to take you home with me.¨ she said, looking at her son with worry written all over her face.

**Ok, so here´s next chapter.  
Thanks to the amaizing person who took the time to read and review!**

**So, what did you think of this one? Will Haru go with his mother? Should he? **

**Let´s find out in the next chapter. Until then, bye bye!**

**PS: please don´t mind the misspelled words you see, I´m writing as fast as I can, so mistakes can be made haha**


	3. Chapter 3 Welcome

**Warning, slight MakoHaru ahead. If you don´t like this pairing and wish to skip, just go to the author´s note down so you don´t miss the important things of this chapter.**

* * *

_Chapter 3_

_._

The days moved fast. Soon, it was time for him to go back home.

He got out of the bed and onto his chair all by himself, taking tyhe chance to do so while Makoto had gone to the bathroom. He then rolled to the door as fast as he could, wanting to be out of that room as fast as he could.

He really wished to go to his house and get inside his bathtub… a hard thing to do, since it was in the second floor of his house.

He´d been thinking a lot about that. His house was not designed for moving around on a wheel-chair, and none was the city, which had so many ups and downs that he´ll probably end up killing himself as soon as he tried to move around it. Even to go from his house to Makoto´s, he had to go down a series of stairs.

His parents too were worried about him, which was made clear by his mother´s offer to have him go live with them. It could be easier, for all of them. Still, he was thinking about it.

The truth is, he knew really well the reason for not wanting to leave revolved around a certain someone, someone who walked in the room just as he´d made it to the door.

.

¨Haru! Why didn´t you wait for me, I said I wouldn´t take long¨ said Makoto, walking over to his friend in a rush.

¨I can do this much¨ Haru answered, not bothering to put up a façade in front of Makoto. That was the good thing about being friends with him for so long, it didn´t matter if he showed his true colours.

The green-eyed boy didn´t answer to that and he just moved out of the way to allow Haru to get out of the room. It had really taken a lot for the doctors to actually allow him to leave. Aparently, they´d been quite worried with Haruka´s ribs, since they could easily puncture his lungs if, for some reason, they moved from their place again.

For that same reason, a nurse had given Makoto a course on how to move his friend around without hurting him. It would be needed, even if Haru didn´t want to.

.

¨My parents will scold me if they see I don´t help you, Haru. They promised your mother they´d take good care of you.¨ said Makoto, referring to a few days ago, when Haruka´s mom had to go back alone, having received a negative answer from her son. She´d expected that. Haru was very similar to his grandmother, who´d refused to leave her beloved house too.

And for that reason, the Tachibana family had decided to take him in and have him live with them ¨until he recovered¨.

Just how long that´d take him, Haruka just didn´t know.

.

Sighing, Haru took his hands of the wheels and placed them onto his lap, a signal to Makoto that it was ok if he helped.

¨Thanks¨ the boy said, smiling an annoyingly large smile. Why would someone thank another person for letting him help? Things like that just completely escaped Haru´s understanding.

.

The drive from the hospital to Makoto´s place didn´t take too long, and as the door opened, a loud ¨Welcome¨ was delivered by an unexpectedly large crowd of people. There was Rin, Gou, Nagisa, Rei, coach Sasabe and even Amata-sensei, aside from Ren and Ran, who immediately ran over to Haru in order to hug him.

His eyes travelled around the scene and a small smile appeared on his face. It wasn´t truly his home, but he did feel welcomed.

.

¨Now, don´t jump on Haru, he´s hurt, remember¨ said Makoto, scolding his siblings.

¨It´s ok¨ Haru replied immediately, placing his hand on Ren´s head to ruffle his hair. It felt weird, now he was on the wheelchair, the ten year old child was taller than he was, and so the action he used to do so often was harder to accomplish.

.

¨Haru-chan, I brought you a strawberry cake! Do you want a piece, do you?¨ jumped Nagisa in his usual bubbly way.

¨Hey Haru, got tired, walking all the way here?¨ asked Rin, quickly getting hit by Gou in reprimand to his words. Still, Haru even felt like laughing, it was a nice change to his usual glaring.

.

The rest of the afternoon passed by the same way, with lots of laughs and smiles from everyone. It actually felt like a celebration, but the feeling vanished really fast when, after everyone left, the time came to go up to Makoto´s room.

The chair couldn´t be pushed upstairs, of course, and so there was only one option.

His eyes met Makoto´s for a moment, seeing him get closer to him and move his arms towards him.

He turned away in embarrassment, but he still felt his friend´s hands touch his body, surrounding it. He was pulled up a lot easier than he´d like to admit.

¨Haru, wrap your arms around me too, I don´t want to get any chances of you falling¨ Makoto said, smiling warmly down at him. Was he actually enjoying it?! It irritated Haru, since it made him feel so ashamed. He hadn´t been that close to Makoto for a long time, and he´d certainly never been in his arms that way, cradled to his broad chest.

.

Thankfully, it didn´t take too long for them to reach the room, and soon he was lying on his friend´s bed. He thanked the fact that Makoto had to go back down to get the wheelchair; it gave him time to calm down his racing heart, which helped get the colour back off his cheeks.

Why had he blushed?! He was just glad it was all over…

.

¨Why are you lying down a futon, Makoto?¨ he asked without thinking as soon as he saw the taller boy grab said thing from the closet in his room.

¨We won´t fit in my bed…¨ he said, though he stopped talking as he met Haru´s deep blue eyes. They had slept together in that bed many times, after all, the ¨won´t fit¨ excuse didn´t seem acceptable.

¨Then I´ll take the futon, it´s your bed, after all¨ Haruka said, sitting up and actually making the move as if to drag himself out of bed.

¨No! Haru, you take the bed, it´s ok with me.¨ Makoto tried to stop him, but, as stubborn as he was, he didn´t listen.

¨I insist¨

¨Don't insist on that sort of things!¨ Makoto desperately said. ¨Ok, I´ll sleep on the bed too.¨ he sighed and put the futon right back inside the closet, getting on the bed afterwards.

They lied there, shoulders touching and both facing the ceiling. At first, he felt a tad uncomfortable, but soon it completely disappeared. They´d known each other for far too long.

¨Good night, Haru.¨ Makoto said as he turned to his side to make himself more comfortable, his voice sounding sleepy.

.

¨Good night, Makoto.¨

* * *

**Okay, if you for some reason don´t like MakoHaru, all you have to know is: **

**1- Haru was finally released from the hospital.**

**2-He´ll be living with the Tachibana´s for the time being.**

**3-The time for another pairing insinuation will come.**

**Great, hope you guys liked the chapter! Please review, I love reviews.**


End file.
